Nintendo has an impressive plan to appeal to 'people, not just players'

With 43 years of making immensely popular video games under its belt, you'd think that the video game pioneers at Nintendo probably have the business of success fully figured out.

But companies must change with the times -- and, according to Nintendo of America  (NTDOY) - Get Free Report president Doug Bowser, that means finding a way to engage people with the legacy brand that might never pick up a video game controller.

Related: Another Billion-Dollar Nintendo Franchise is Finally Coming to the Big Screen

Bowser spoke about what the company learned this year during the Nintendo Live event in Seattle, Wa. on Sept 1, referencing the enormous box office success of the "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" as one of its key indicators that Nintendo has the ability to reach an audience beyond those that naturally reach for a controller.

"We launched The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which very quickly became the second-largest box office grossing animated film of all time at $1.3 billion," Bowser said. "We launched The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which, 18 million units later after a very brief period of time, it's one of our fastest launch titles ever, and then the event today. So it's really this drumbeat of activities, entertainment-based activities where we're trying to find ways to continue to introduce more and more people, not just players, but people to Nintendo IP… So that's what we're excited about."

Bowser also spoke about the launch of Super Nintendo World at Universal Hollywood, which delivered an impressive 25% bump to Comcast's Q1 earnings this year.

"And if I think about folding [Nintendo Live] into the bigger strategy, this year has really been a very unique, and I dare say banner year for Nintendo in a lot of ways," Bowser said.

Nintendo also continues to benefit from the sales of its aging Nintendo Switch console, with 129.53 million units sold worldwide. That makes it the company's second best-selling console of all time, right behind the handheld Nintendo DS, which sold 154.2 million units before it was discontinued in 2014.

The success of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" drove rumors that another big feature film based on Nintendo's flagship Legend of Zelda series was coming as well, but Nintendo hasn't made a formal announcement about that ... yet.

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